Why Mad Men Had to End on Halloween

Don Draper's ghosts find peace as a kid finally takes off his costume

I have a funny memory from before I became obsessed with Mad Men. It was a lazy October day cleaning the apartment and I decided to put on a random Halloween episode to set the mood. I thought it’d be a great idea to see if Mad Men (which at that point I had seen almost nothing of) did a Halloween episode.

There were two options but one was the series finale so I decided to throw on an “unimportant” episode — Season 3: Episode 11 “The Gypsy and the Hobo” — which begins with Don Draper being the Grinch of Halloween. This man who only believes in temporary happiness tells his daughter not to get a Minnie Mouse costume because she’ll only wear it once.

Don’s immediate distaste for Halloween comes from his own childhood where he likely never experienced it and his costume was certainly homemade if he did. Don Draper is a selfish man and his neglect of his children often comes out of jealousy. They are living a better life than he did, even though that’s what he wants for them.

(Mad Men Season 3, Episode 11 “The Gypsy and the Hobo” © AMC)